Complaints ‘false’, three rape cases to be cancelled

In a dramatic twist to the three rape cases registered in Punjab's Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts in the past couple of days, the police have decided to cancel the FIRs, claiming that investigations have found the allegations false.

The Amritsar (rural) police on Monday decided to cancel the first information report (FIR) against head constable Kulwinder Singh, his wife Ranjit Kaur and nephew Gurcharan Singh.

The senior superintendent of police (SSP), Amritsar (rural), PS Virk said, “We had registered a rape case as the woman had levelled serious charges, but our investigation is complete and it has revealed that the allegations are untrue. So, we are cancelling the case against the cop, his wife and nephew.”

Virk said a superintendent of police (SP)-rank officer had investigated the case. “We have evidence that there was no pressure on the complainant to marry Gurcharan,” he added. He said the couple had moved the Punjab and Haryana high court after marriage, seeking police protection in view of threat perception from the woman’s family.

The SSP said the police would initiate action against the 20-year-old woman for making a false complaint.

The complainant had alleged that Kulwinder first misled her by claiming that he would secure a job for her in the Punjab Police and then forced her to marry Gurcharan. She had also accused the duo of raping her after marriage, following which a case was registered at the Ajnala police station.

Detecting inconsistencies in the complaint, the Amritsar (rural) police had asked SP (detective) Jasdeep Singh to conduct a thorough probe.

The district rural police have also decided to cancel the case registered under Section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code against Manjit Singh and Jaspal after finding the charge false. The case was registered at Bhindi Saidan police station on Saturday. A married woman had alleged that the two youths abducted and raped her.

The SSP said, “The complaint was dubious all along. After an investigation, we found no truth in it. We will cancel the case and release Manjit, who had been arrested.”

Meanwhile, the Tarn Taran police, who had registered a rape case against Satnam Singh on a woman’s complaint, have now decided to cancel the FIR.

The case was registered at the Khemkaran police station after the complainant claimed that Satnam had been raping her on the pretext of marriage.

Talking to HT, Tarn Taran SSP KS Dhillon said, “During the investigation, we found that the woman came into contact with Satnam in 2009 and both moved to Chennai in 2010. It came to light that she had willingly gone there with Satnam and also has a two-year-old son. Now, when they came back, she made a false complaint against him under parental pressure.”